Area athletes make their college decisions

Rochester and Sacred Heart-Griffin high schools are sending a combined 20 athletes across three sports to play in the college ranks.

SHG had five NCAA Division I athletes taking a step toward their goal of playing collegiately while Rochester has three D-I athletes inking their commitments during this round of National Letter of Intent signings.

SHG has six seniors from the football team who plan to play at the next level, including receivers Albert Okwuegbunam (University of Missouri) and Sam Bonansinga (Southern Illinois-Carbondale) and defensive back Avery Andrews (Western Illinois). Offensive lineman John Fischer will attend Columbia, a member of the Ivy League.

Bonansinga led the Cyclones with 56 catches and 1,034 yards, and he scored 17 touchdowns. Okwuegbunam caught 47 passes for 945 yards and scored 17 TDs.

Defensive end Lance Winkler will attend Lindenwood-Belleville, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Linebacker D.J. Mackey, who led the Cyclones with 162 tackles, is heading to Iowa Central Community College.

Ashleigh Cearlock, who had 11 goals and three assists as a junior, plans to play soccer at Division I Creighton while teammate Megan Herter will attend and play at D-II Wheeling Jesuit.

SHG has announced two baseball players will play for in-state junior colleges: Jack Staten at Lincoln Land and John Plattner at Kaskaskia. Meanwhile, SHG’s Sam Boeyen, a 6-foot defensive lineman, will play at NAIA St. Ambrose. Boeyen recorded 67 tackles, helping the Cyclones finish 11-1 on the season.

Rockets move on

Rochester had six soccer players make their decisions, including 2015 Central State Eight Conference Boys Soccer Player of the Year Dalton Handlin. Handlin finalized his December decision to play for D-I Central Arkansas. Handlin scored 45 goals and finished with 103 points.

Rochester quarterback Dan Zeigler and teammate Brandon Jones, a center, are both going to D-II Truman State. Zeigler is the seventh straight starting QB at Rochester to go either D-II or D-I, dating back to 2005 graduate Kurt Long, who went to SIU-Carbondale.

Zeigler finished with more than 3,200 yards passing while completing 63 percent of his passes in 12 games.

Collin Etherton, a wide receiver and free safety, will play at St. Ambrose University.

In 12 games for the 11-1 Rockets, Etherton caught 21 passes for 373 yards and scored a touchdown. On defense, Etherton recorded 78 tackles and had two interceptions.

Crimsons have 8

Jacksonville has eight athletes — four in football and four for soccer — whose academic futures are secured.

Quarterback Joe Brannan is heading to Northwest Missouri State — a D-II school — and Braxton Criss, a linebacker, chose St. Ambrose. Brannan threw for 2,769 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior. Criss recorded 37 tackles.

Noah Pickens and Matt Rooney are both staying in town. Pickens, a receiver and defensive back, will play at Illinois College. Rooney, a running back and linebacker, will play for MacMurray. Both are D-III schools. Pickens had 40 catches for 576 yards and seven touchdowns while Rooney ran for nearly 1,200 yards.

Mark Wilson, a midfielder, is going to play soccer at Division I Bradley.

The girls’ soccer team is sending three of its seniors onto four-year universities: Claire Cody has committed to Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne, a D-I school; and Madi Allen and Sarah James are going to Hannibal-LaGrange, an NAIA program.

And other CS8 athletes moving to the next level are Decatur Eisenhower football players Colton Lockwood (McKendree), Kendall Dehority (Quincy) and Salat Al-Nurridin (St. Joseph’s in Indiana) — all GLVC schools — and soccer player Brock Askew, who will play at Lincoln College, a two-year school.

Decatur MacArthur's Kiya Harper will play softball at Lincoln College next year.

North Mac Bearcat

Class 3A all-state North Mac offensive lineman Jonathan Myers is going to McKendree University. The Bearcats are a NCAA Division II school and a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Twin Bullets

Williamsville twin sisters Marah and Farah Abu-Tayeh signed national letters of intent to play soccer at Marshall, an NCAA Division I school in Huntington, West Virginia.

They made verbal commitments to Marshall last summer.

Marah scored 43 goals and had 14 assists last season, and Farah had 22 goals and 21 assists. They led Williamsville to a 21-2-1 record and a Class 1A regional title.

The Abu-Tayehs also are starters for the Williamsville girls’ basketball team.

Only athletes getting an athletics’ aid agreement from an NCAA D-I or D-II school are permitted to sign a letter of intent. For athletes going to D-I Ivy League schools, Division III universities, NAIA institution, junior colleges or for any athlete seeking a walk-on roster spot, signing a National Letter of Intent is not an option.

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